Dogs: Chasing A Reflection
by Alrynnas
Summary: Crossing paths with a strange woman, her problems soon become Heine's problems as well. Just what other kinds of genetic experiments have been going on through the years? Implied Heine/OC.


**A/N**: Well, have had this lying around for a bit, and was debating whether or not to post it. But, I really do love Dogs, and I think Heine is just awesome, so I decided to share this. Hope some other Dogs fans will like this.

I do intend to, someday, continue on with this story, but I really have no idea when I'd get around to that, so for now, it's just gonna be a one-shot. It was actually, originally, intended as a one-shot, but then I changed some things and thought more about the plot and now have some ideas to continue it. Some day...maybe you'll see more of this.

This is meant to take place after Dogs and just before Dogs: Bullets and Carnage. Enjoy!

* * *

The noise of the crowded streets faded away into nearly nothing as Heine headed down an alley. In this area, alleys were almost safer than the streets themselves. At that time, there was no one else in the alley the white-haired man walked through. Complete solitude. A moment like that was fairly rare for him to come by. The sounds of the bustling streets were long gone by the time he reached the other end of the alley. However, that moment of silence and solitude did not last for much longer.

Someone rounded the corner at a shockingly fast pace and crashed into Heine. It all happened so quickly, he could do nothing to stop it. He and the new person fell to the ground with a hard _thud_. Groaning with a mix of pain and annoyance, Heine placed a hand to his head and opened his eyes. Above him was some person with long dark silvery-blue hair. The dark clothing the person wore nearly blended in with their surroundings. Not knowing why, Heine felt his heart race suddenly.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow..." groaned out the person. A woman, he figured, by the sound of her voice and what he could make out of her figure as she pushed herself off of him. A woman... Painful memories rose, sending a new pain through his mind and body. He wanted to get away, to end the pain, but he could not move. "Should have seen that coming..." she murmured, moving completely off of him.

When she was far enough away, Heine could breathe easier. It was rather annoying, his gynophobia. The woman placed a hand on her head for a moment before she looked up to him. At least...he thought that was what she did. Whoever this woman was, she wore a blindfold, completely covering her eyes. Because of that, he wondered for a moment if it was possible for her to see.

"Sorry about that," she apologized, rising. Once standing, she held out a hand to help him. That puzzled him; were she blind, how could she tell where he was? Clearing his throat, Heine rose, making sure to stay clear of her hand. She seemed to notice for the woman gave some sort of grunt and took back her hand.

"Don't worry about it," he shrugged, stepping to the side clear of her. Finished, he started to continue on his way.

"I wouldn't go that way if I were you," she told him, looking only slightly over her shoulder towards him as he walked past. Intrigued by her warning, he glanced back. "It's not...quite so safe that way any more..." There seemed to be a smirk on her face before she headed on down the alley the other way.

Questioningly, he stared after her for a few more moments before shrugging it off. Not like she could tell him what and what not to do. Pushing that odd woman from his mind, Heine was about to continue on his way when he heard footsteps... Several sets of footsteps... All moving rather quickly... Right towards where he was.

Not wanting to see who or what it was, Heine decided to take the woman's advice and turned around. Even if it had nothing to do with him, he did not really want to get caught in the middle of something else now. Moving quickly, he caught up to the woman before she reached the end of the alley. Without warning though, she stopped.

"Dammit," she cursed under her breath, moving back. "Seems like this way isn't so safe any more either..."

"What are you talking about?" he questioned, wondering how she could possibly tell if the way was safe or not.

He once more assumed she looked to him. Heine could not be certain as long as she wore that blindfold. "You'll see in about three...two...one..." As soon as she counted down, men swarmed into the alley from either end. There were twelve in total, he counted, more on the end she had originally come from than the other. "Well! This isn't what I wished for!" she laughed out. "I think they might have us cornered."

Keeping an eye on the opposite end as she was, or at least seemed like she was, Heine scoffed. "'_Us_'? There is no _us_. There is only _you_ in this mess. This has nothing to do with me."

"They may not see it that way," she chuckled nervously. The men that had been after the woman took aim at both her and Heine. "What do you say to using those two nice guns you have and help to make sure we get out of this with no wounds?"

Heine took a swift intake of air. With their brief meeting, there was no way for her to know about his guns since his current jacket hid them both, and even the chain. Regaining his composure, the white-haired man scoffed again as he returned to watching the men at the end of the alley. "And why would I want to do that?"

"Apparently, your white hair and red eyes are well-known among them... Seeing you has piqued their interest."

A smirk crossed Heine's face. That was enough for him. "Too bad for them," he sighed. Reaching back, he pulled out his guns and let loose. He did not much care for helping the woman, but if they were after him as well, it was another story. Of course, he could not be certain, but he was not in the mood to take that chance.

Only a few rounds had escaped his gun before he stopped. Blinking, he watched as the last man on his side fell down dead. Brow furrowed, he glanced from his guns to the bodies. He was good at dispersing his foes, but there was no way the number of bullets he had fired had killed them all. Looking over, he saw the men at the other end were all dead, too. Confused, not something he normally liked being, Heine looked over to the woman.

She was standing calmly, her hand outstretched for a moment before it fell back to her side. No weapons were visible with her. So...how had all those men died?

"C'mon, we should go before more arrive." She tossed her head in the direction she had been heading. Groaning, Heine did not move at all. She seemed to be able to tell what was troubling him, for the woman added, "Look, they've seen you now. This group's gonna be after you whether you're with me or not. So, might as well make it easier on both of us and stick together for a while."

That was not enough to persuade him this time. Raising his gun, he pointed it towards the woman, finger ready on the trigger. "Just who the hell are those guys?"

"Dolls," she answered calmly. She did not react at all to the gun aimed at her head. "You can go, if you wish, but, we'd have a better chance of defeating them together. Shouldn't take too long, either... I think," she added quietly. Without waiting for any sort of response, the woman dashed off. Sighing in annoyance, Heine shook his head. He only had to think for a few seconds before he chased after her.

None of this was making much sense to him. But, if there were more of those guys after the woman, and now him, he was not in the mood to fight through them. It did not take him long to catch up to the woman, though she was moving at quite a fast speed. Sticking to the shadows, she weaved her way through streets and other alleys. Heine now had serious doubts over whether she was actually blind or not. Even if she knew the directions of which way to go, no way could a normal blind person travel that quickly through the place.

"In here!" she ordered back to him, opening a door to a side of a building. The woman jumped in without hesitating, and so did Heine after. Silently, the door closed behind him. The building they had taken refuge in was quite run-down. How it was still standing, Heine could not guess. There were several large windows that seemed to be once made of stain glass, so he figured they were in some old church. "We should be safe here for a while, depending on how smart the Puppeteer is."

Heine quickly mouthed the term she had used, becoming even more confused. Brow furrowed, he looked over to her and asked, "The _what_?"

The woman sat down, slinging her arms over the back of the broken seat. "Puppeteers. They're the ones that control the Dolls—those guys that we killed." She let out a sigh and looked towards Heine. An odd cough escaped her when she noticed the look he was giving her. "A single Puppeteer can control hundreds of Dolls, since it's what they're made for. Surely you're no stranger to all the genetic experiments that have gone on over the years. This is just one more thing to add to that list."

"Just who the hell _are_ you?" growled Heine, reaching back for his gun.

The woman gave a cool smirk and flicked her wrist. "Someone not to different from yourself...Heine." Faster than he could draw his guns, the woman rose and headed towards the main entrance to the run-down church. "Dammit! They've already found us. And there're a lot more than I thought there would be... Well...you wanna know what these Dolls and Puppeteers are capable of?" She looked over her shoulder towards Heine and grinned. "Time for you to find out."

He cried out for her to wait, but it was in vain. The front doors to the church opened, and the woman walked through. Cursing under his breath, Heine drew out his guns and ran after her, getting outside just before the doors somehow closed on their own. When he looked down the steps, he felt his body seize up. Many men were waiting for them, weapons of their own drawn. Heine lost track of how many there were somewhere over fifty. Even with his ability to now be killed by anything other than a head shot, with all the bullets that would soon be flying around, there was a chance one could get him. It was time to gamble on that chance, though.

Without any command he could notice, the army of Dolls, as the woman called them, opened fire on the two of them. Instinctively, Heine brought up his guns and hands to protect his face...yet it was not needed. The bullets had been fired at them, yes, but they did not reach the two.

The bullets were being deflected by some unseen force.

"What the...?" grumbled Heine, lowering his hands. The bullets were acted as though they were hitting something solid before them and bouncing away. Each time they hit the unseen wall, what was protecting them glistened for a moment. Whatever it may be, it was moving fairly quickly, as if made of many parts and readjusting itself to make sure none of the bullets got through. Then, their defence revealed itself, and Heine was amazed at how many weapons there were.

Guns, swords, spears, lances, and more encircled himself and the woman. Looking over, Heine saw the strange woman holding out her hand, as if controlling them. "Sometimes the best defence..." she began, one of the guns suddenly being called back to her grip. "Is a good offence." Within the second, she fired.

A single one of the Dolls, to the far left, dropped dead. The rest around him continued firing as if nothing happened.

"Well, shit," spat the woman. "Guess this Puppeteer is better than I expected. I thought that was him. Well, guess it can't be helped..." As their wall of defence spread further and further out, she began to walk down the steps. The woman must have done something to the gun she held, for Heine saw it change before his eyes into a sword. "Time to see who can kill the most!" she laughed out, shooting a smirk back to him. "An extra ten to whoever kills the Puppeteer!"

Heine stared in a mix of amazement and fear at the woman as she charged head in to the army of Dolls. All those around her fell dead in an instant as the mass of weapons she seemed to control swept through them. A curse escaped Heine as he felt a bullet pierce his arm. With the weapons around the woman, he was no longer guarded from all attacks. Reflexes fast, Heine shot down the Doll that had wounded him without a blink of an eye.

It was time to clean up this mess.

Between the two of them, the army of Dolls were dropping like flies. Heine found himself killing fewer than he normally would, for most of the time, he could only watch how the woman fought. Killing enemies in one shot, she would jump through the crowd from target to target. He was baffled when she suddenly moved from one target to a place that had to be a hundred feet away in a blink of an eye. No way was this woman normal.

There had to only be a quarter of the Dolls remaining when the woman reappeared by his side. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she held him in place. Though he protested, he quickly found out why.

A missile, which would have otherwise killed him, was blocked by the wall of weapons.

"Far right, in the back! Kill him!" ordered the woman, killing off the Dolls that were rushing towards them. Not asking questions, Heine raised his guns to where she had mentioned and fired. The man he had shot dropped dead within a second. Around them, the remaining Dolls fell to the ground like wilted plants.

"What..._was_ that?" he questioned, still confused by all that had happened.

"It follows the same rules as for any monster," sighed the woman. She released the gunblade in her hand and it returned to hovering around them with the other weapons. "Cut off its head, and the body will die. Well...most monsters follow that, anyway..." she mumbled, scratching her cheek meekly.

"What the hell is going on?" demanded Heine, once again pointing his gun to the woman. She sighed, and seemed like she might have answered when a cracking noise met their ears. Beneath their feet, the ground began to crumble and split. While they had been protected from the blast...the area around them had not.

"Run!" she barked, shoving him in a random direction.

Caught off guard, Heine did not move fast enough, and he felt the ground give way right beneath their feet. They ran for as long as they could, even on the pieces as they were falling, but it was no use. Jumping with all his might, Heine barely reached onto the edge of the ground, dangling there with holding onto the woman's hand. His grip was weak and he could feel it slowly slipping on the stone surface.

"Shit!" he cursed, the extra weight of the woman not helping the situation.

"Just let me go!" she shouted up to him. "I'll be fine on my own!"

Heine looked down to her and he felt his painful memories return. _Not now...!_ he thought, gritting his teeth. While in most other cases he most likely would have dropped the woman, especially one who had caused such troubles for him, he wanted answers for all that had happened. As that was the case, he could not risk letting her drop. He cried out in pain as he felt like his shoulders were beginning to dislocate from the strain. He held on as long as he could, until he could hold no more.

The two of them fell into the darkness beneath the old street, where they would end up, he did not know.

:::

Head throbbing, Heine winced before he managed to open his eyes. When he did, he wondered for a moment if they were really open, for it was so dark. The sound of small waves reached his ears, making him even more confused as to where he was. Groaning, he managed to push himself up, his vision slowly adjusting to the darkness.

"Finally, you're awake," came the voice of that woman. Heine wanted to groan again, for part of him had hoped she was no longer with him. "Ahh, dammit!" Frustrated, she threw something away from her. "It's ironic...I wear that blindfold so I don't have to worry about sunglasses breaking on me. Yet a stray bullet ripped right through it..."

Following her voice, Heine managed to spot where she was sitting, not too far away. When she turned around, he felt his body seize up on him.

Her eyes...they were not normal at all.

Cold, they almost seemed to shine like distant stars. It was unnatural for a human to have that shade of eyes, almost as white as his own hair. He was not sure how much time passed as he stared at her eyes, growing more and more nervous by the second.

"You know, you're heavier than you look," she sighed, breaking eye contact as she glanced to the side. Heine felt as though he could breath again. "Was harder to pull you out of the water than I first thought." Glancing over his shoulder, Heine saw the pool of water that had some drain system pouring into it.

"Where are we?" he asked after clearing his throat.

"The Underworld."

"What?" coughed out Heine as he tried to stand. His body protested for it was still sore, and he quickly fell back down to his knees. Coughing some more, he managed to cough out some of the bullets that had been pestering him.

The woman tilted her head and smirked in amusement. "At least, it would have been considered the Underworld, years ago..." Glaring at the woman, Heine let out a frustrated sigh. Was she toying with him? "This area was called Arima, the caves in which all the monsters were born..." She glanced back to Heine and sighed, adding, "Figurative caves." She had noticed him looking at their surroundings. "I'm really surprised it's still in this condition," she grunted, standing.

It took a few moments, but Heine finally pieced something together. "Can you get to the Underworld from here?" he asked quickly, rising up and teetering for a second.

Her eyes once again made him freeze under their gaze. "Theoretically, yes, but you wouldn't last five minutes down there in your current state...even with your Cerberus Spine. Besides, there's no telling if those passages are still in usable condition." Dismissing the matter with a wave of her hand, the woman turned her back on him.

Growling a curse under his breath, Heine took that moment to come up behind her, aiming his white gun to the back of her head. The woman stopped moving, but otherwise made no other indication of the threat on her life. "Who the hell are you and how do you know all this stuff? Tell me!" he barked out.

The woman sighed, shook her head, and then turned around to face him. Despite her situation, there was a smirk on her face. "Go ahead, shoot if you wa—" she was cut off in mid sentence by a loud bang. Heine had had enough. Though, as the gun smoke began to clear, he could still see her body standing before him. The odd woman coughed lightly, waving away the rest of the smoke. "No hesitation... Nice," she grinned.

Heine blinked in surprise. The bullet he had fired at her was suspended in the air between them, a fraction of a distance away from her head. It then fell to the ground at the woman's feet. She sniffed in disapproval as she kicked it aside.

"Do that again, though, and you may regret it." There was a glint in her pale eyes before the mass of weapons that had defended them earlier appeared around them...all aimed towards Heine. "Now...shall we put down our weapons and talk like normal people?"

Reluctantly, Heine holstered his gun. If it would not work on her at point-blank range...well, then there was not much else he could do at the moment. The woman gave a twistedly-amused smile and the weapons disappeared from his sight. Though he suspected they were still around the two of them.

"Who are you?" he asked one more time.

The woman sighed and flicked some of her dark hair back over her shoulder. "Osana Nox," she answered," but you can just call me San."

"How can you do all that you did?"

"Boy you like to ask questions," she sighed. Heine gave an unamused stare towards her. "Like healing and that wild dog side to you are your traits, telekinesis and telepathy are mine." San gave a proud grin, tilting her head back slightly. "Basically, I could kill you with my mind if I wanted to."

"How?" he asked after swallowing. Someone who had that much power with only needing to use their mind... It was quite dangerous. Were there more people out there, hiding in the shadows, like her?

"Don't tell me you think you were part of the only genetic experimentation group, Heine." A cold laugh escaped her. "There were several others. I was part of one project, like yourself, where they experimented on the mind to create the perfect killer." Sighing, she tilted her head back and looked up at their surroundings. "This used to be home to all those old experiments, before they went deeper to the Underworld."

Heine took that moment to study their new location. It looked more like an old facility where all sorts of experiments would be done. Old wires and large cables dangled down, fading off into the darkness above them. A few lights still drew power and shone in the darkness. The part that made Heine the sickest while looking over their surroundings were all the large test tubes where the genetic experiments must have been stored in. He wondered for a moment then, how long the age of genetic experimentations had really gone on for for a place like this to have been built and then deserted.

"C'mon," sighed San, dusting off some of her jacket. "There should at least still be a way to the surface." Heine opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by the woman holding up her hand to him. "Even if there were a clear way to the Underworld from here, it would not be a good idea to go on your own, unprepared and not ready." Walking behind her, Heine shot San a glare. Surely she had read his mind to be able to answer his unasked question. He did not like someone who was able to do that at will and that he could not stop.

"So how long has it been since this place was in use?" he grunted as they climbed up a pile of rubble to get to the next level.

"Whenever it was they switched to the Underworld. Arima had been in use for quite some time before then," answered San. Heine managed to keep his mouth shut for the next question he wanted to ask since he figured San could tell what it was going to be. "As far as I know, the experiment group I was in was one of the first, a long, long time ago. I really...can't be certain of exactly, for down here, time had no meaning to me. One test ran into another, and those were only the ones I remember being conscious for. No daylight...no clocks...it felt like eternity."

"How did you escape?"

A cold laugh escaped her as San pushed some overhanging rubble to the side. "They gave me a little too much power with the telekinesis and telepathy. When I could begin hearing their thoughts, they did not quite have a way yet to shield what they were thinking. I learned all I needed to know, and waited for the right time. It took ages...but it was worth the wait."

The air gradually began to get fresher the farther they travelled. "Are there more like you?"

"Like me? Possibly. Though I doubt they're exactly like me, since I'm sure they've learned their lesson on making their experiments too powerful. There are plenty of those Puppeteers and Dolls, however, since they are given limited abilities and are kept on a tight leash. They're normally the ones sent after me, since I apparently still pose a big threat to them." A weak laugh escaped her.

From then on, the rest of their trek continued in silence. Heine tried very had to keep his thoughts minimal, not knowing when San would be reading it. Someone who had telekinesis and telepathy...he could see why the group that had created her still saw her as a threat. They had created an almost perfect weapon. The only problem was they could no longer wield it.

:::

Resting his chin on the back of his hands, Heine stared down to the floor of the room he was in. Water ran in the bathroom, indicating San was taking a shower. They had made it out of Arima, eventually. That place had been a maze of broken buildings and collapsed tunnels. Heine wondered how she had managed to navigate them out of that place.

When they had reached the surface, it was far away from any section he had wanted to be in. As such, they had decided to rest the night. Heine did not like the idea of spending any more time with the odd woman, but he grudgingly agreed. Like it or not, he had grown somewhat tired. Part of what had been making him so tired was guarding his thoughts all the time now. With San able to read minds, he did not know how much she had found out from him. Already, it was more than he would like. He did not want to make the damage worse. It was difficult...to always be guarding his thoughts.

At the moment, he mostly found himself trying to piece all San had told him together. Puppeteers... Dolls... Telekinesis... Telepathy... It all sounded like it should have been part of some pathetic joke. Had there really been such experiments going on? Closing his eyes, Heine brought his hand to the bandage around his neck. That reminder was enough. The permanent reminder he would always bear was enough to answer him all he needed to know on the kind of sick and twisted things humans could do to another in the pursuit of power.

A door opened, bringing Heine from his thoughts. Looking up, he saw San walk out, a towel around her shoulders to dry her damp hair. For a split second, as she was walking over, he caught her eyes and felt...relaxed. It puzzled him for a moment. Most times, he could not stand more than a few seconds around women, due to his phobia, but...there was something about her...something was different from before. Around San now, he felt at peace. It was different from how he was around Nill.

"Trying to figure things out and guard your thoughts, huh?" asked San as she rubbed her head with the towel briskly.

Heine felt himself bristle at her comment. Even while guarding them, would she always be able to read his thoughts so easily? He shook his head to clear his mind, and when he looked back up, he was surprised by the expression on San's face. It was not every day he got a look of such empathy. "Why are you looking like that at me for?" he asked slowly, raising an eyebrow.

She stared at him a few moments longer with that rare expression. Other times, Heine was certain he would have grown tense and awkward under such a gaze, but this time, he began to grow calm. The silence was broken when she finally murmured, "I'm sorry..."

"...What?" he blinked.

"The project I was in...it wasn't just one of the first, it _was_ the first. The Echidna Project. Back in Arima...I was the first successful subject for that project. The information they learned then...they continued on with it in other projects...like yours. For what it's worth, I am sorry for the part I've played in what's happened to you..."

For a moment, he felt angry. But, that anger was misplaced, and quickly faded away. Those who had started the Echidna Project were responsible...not San. "Wait... The _first_ project? How old _are_ you then?"

San tilted her head back and let out a wry chuckle. "I really don't know. However old I have to be, I guess. That was another thing they tried...extending one's life. It only worked as long as long as I kept receiving whatever medication they were giving me, so once I escaped, I began to age at a normal rate. It had to be many decades, though, I remember seeing those around me ageing."

It made Heine feel a little sick, being forced to live that long. He almost felt a little sorry for her as well, but quickly tried to hide that thought.

"Still trying to guard your thoughts, hm?" There was a slight grin in San's voice as Heine glanced away. He did not want her to know he felt sorry for her. "There's really no use... Afraid I already know pretty much all about you from when we first bumped into each other. That and you're rather easy to read—at least for me. I could probably tell what you were thinking even if I couldn't read your thoughts." The grin had slipped away. San took another step forward. "The experiments they put you through... Forcing you to fight like that when only kids... It still hurts, doesn't it? The Cerberus Spine... But...you really don't have to bear that pain on your own."

Each word of hers reached Heine in a way none had before. As she spoke, San had continued to walk closer, until she was standing in front of him. Her words had breached what defences he had, until he now felt completely exposed to her. Looking up, his expression was almost...sad. San's look had returned to one of sympathy. There were no hidden secrets from her. She could see how he really felt...even if he sometimes did not know it himself.

Not knowing why, he reached out to her, taking a hold of one of her hands and placing his other on her waist. Heine pulled her the few inches closer that was needed and rested his head on her stomach. It was odd, yet somewhat refreshing, to have his raw emotions showing like this. For other people, this would still have been seen as closed-up, but for Heine...he was being more open than he had with anyone else before.

San sighed calmly, resting her hand on the back of his exposed neck. Her fingers grazed over the Cerberus Spine hidden beneath the bandage. For a moment, there was pain from it, and then the next, it was gone. It was as though San had taken it. No...it was more as though she had erased it from his mind. For now, at least, he was completely at rest.

He did not know how much time passed there, as they remained like that, all Heine knew was that he did not want it to end.

:::

The sound of a loud _bang_, like that of furniture moving, caused Heine to wake in a rush. Instinctively, he reached back for his guns, but stopped when he realized there was no danger. Sighing, he flopped back down onto the bed, wanting to rest a bit longer. When he looked over to the other bed, he frowned.

San had gone.

He was not surprised, but somewhat disappointed. Heine had not thought she would leave so early, but it was to be expected in situations like this. They had needed to work together to survive, for a time. That time had passed, and so now their momentary alliance was no longer needed. The wish to return to separate lives had returned, with no telling if they would cross paths again. Grumbling something under his breath, Heine stared up to the ceiling.

San may have left, but that feeling of peace still lingered with him for a few moments more.

* * *

**A/N**: So there you have it! Maybe if people liked this, I'll try to get started on more of the story. If I do, don't expect it anytime soon.

Arima and Echidna are parts of Greek Mythology (trying to continue on with the whole Underworld and Cerberus stuff Dogs has going on). Arima is the name of Echidna's cave, and she is the "Mother of All Monsters" (which is why it's meant to be the first of the genetic experiments).

To any other Final Fantasy fans reading this, see if you can guess who San's character was influenced by.

But yeah, this'll most likely remain a one-shot. Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
